3rd Annual NBA Finals Preview

My level of excitement for this year’s NBA Finals is beyond measurement. Despite my team of choice, the Cleveland Cavaliers, being in the NBA Finals, I will do my best to remain objective. In 2005, I used Star Wars quotes (http://thedawggs.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_thedawggs_archive.html), and in 2006, I used Indiana Jones quotes (http://thedawggs.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html). To continue the tradition, I will use another great trilogy this year – Back to the Future!

1. “Like I've always told you, you put your mind to it, you can accomplish ANYTHING.”

This one goes out to Larry Hughes for multiple reasons. While I feel like most of the Cavs fans (and probably most of the nation) feel like Hughes has become completely worthless to the Cavs it’s not true. He’s only worthless on the offensive end because he has completely lost his shot. I still believe if Larry puts his mind to it, he can regain his inconsistent shot. I just hope he figures this out in practice, not during the game. Defensively, Larry Hughes is extremely valuable to the team as he still is most likely the Cavs best one-on-one defender, so his skills will be needed to keep Manu Ginobili and/or Tony Parker in check. Also, Larry has somehow been playing without a torn plantar fascia in his left (a torn muscle in his foot), so if anyone is worthy of putting his mind to it and accomplishing something – it’s Larry Hughes.
Advantage: None - (the man has a serious injury, and can’t play more than 30 minutes; if Hughes is healthy and abstains from shooting, that would make it a huge advantage for the Cavs just because of his defense)

2. “Hey, you! Get your damn hands off her!”

Tony Parker has a hot wife, Eva Longoria, in case you happened to be sleeping under a rock.
Advantage: San Antonio

3. “You're not thinking fourth dimensionally!”

To Michael Finley, for still being very productive even at the age of 34, AND for still being paid $17 million per year by Dallas for: 2005-2006, 2006-2007, AND 2007-2008. http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/dallas.htm Time-traveling is not what enables this, but it actually is a classic example of the “Allan Houston rule” – Dallas still pays his salary but Dallas “waived” him and does not have to pay any luxury tax for Finely’s salary. San Antonio is not a bunch of freeloaders though, as they pay Finley a reasonable $3 million per year for his services.
Advantage: San Antonio

4. “Unless you want everyone in the division to think your... Chicken...”

To Anderson Varejao, who will certainly get scrappy with all of the Spurs especially Tim Duncan. I can only hope and pray that Varejao actually gets inside Duncan’s head and frustrates Duncan. And if anyone is going to just lose their cool from being called “chicken” or “Sideshow Bob”, it’s Anderson Varejao
Advantage: San Antonio (I still don’t think it’s possible to get in Duncan’s head)

5. “Oh, my God, they found me, I don't know how, but they found me. Run for it!”

To Daniel Gibson on the Cavaliers. Now that he had his absurd 31-point outing to oust the Pistons, he certainly will not be forgotten by the Spurs or the Spurs coaching staff.
Advantage: San Antonio

6. “I thought I told you never to come in here.”

To Robert Horry, who probably will continue to act like an enforcer and take out multiple Cavs players who try to drive to the hoop. Horry has suddenly become “Biff” after inciting some extracurriculars against Phoenix. It really is amazing how many times he’s been to the NBA Finals (twice with Houston, three times with the Lakers, now his second time with the Spurs) but there will be no one else that I boo quite as often.
Advantage: San Antonio (they have an expendable guy (Horry) who is willing to take out the opposing team’s players)

7. “A bolt of lighting. Unfortunately, you never know when or where it's ever gonna strike.”

To Lebron James, who at any moment can impact a game and just flat out dominate.
Advantage: Cleveland

8. “Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly. Think!”

Ultimately, no matter how good Lebron is, the fact of the matter is that behind Coach Popovich, the Spurs are a well-oiled machine and the Cavs coach is completely out-classed. I can’t believe I’m comparing Cavs’ coach to Marty McFly but it basically comes down to this – I have never seen an NBA coach who chooses to NOT call any plays in the waning minutes of a basketball game. Essentially, as great as Mike Brown has been in teaching the Cavs to play defense, offensively, he is a moron. He only calls plays after timeouts in the first 40 minutes of the game, and each time, the play is for Z (the local announcers in Cleveland have pointed this out since December). If it’s the last 8 minutes of the game, Mike Brown simply calls the play of “trust Lebron, and everyone else getting out of the way.” While this has worked to this point, it seems completely irrational to believe that this can continue to produce results. Granted, Lebron is amazing, and if there’s any player who can overcome a mediocre coach, its Lebron. But can you imagine if Mike Brown actually had plays (more than just accidents) where Lebron gets free off of a screen when he doesn’t have the ball? The other sad thing I just found out, is that the few plays that Mike Brown does have are just copied from San Antonio, and even have the same names. Even sadder, is that Mike Brown has been getting advice from Coach Popovich throughout the entire 2007 playoffs, including this past week against the Pistons! http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2007/columns/story?id=2891759 Clearly, Coach Brown will ultimately prove to be the biggest liability in these NBA Finals because he certainly does not get the most out of the players and he appears to have been using the RIVAL COACH as his crutch the last few weeks!
Advantage: San Antonio

With that said, I still believe the NBA Finals are going to be much more competitive than people will expect because pf 1) Lebron and 2) the Cavs match up well with the Spurs (the Cavs even swept the Spurs this season). Obviously, no one can stop Duncan. But, the biggest plus for the Cavs is that this is another defensive-oriented team which is great because the Cavs go through long droughts of not being able to score. If Larry Hughes is healthy, he can handle Ginobili, and most importantly, Daniel Gibson is quick enough to defend Tony Parker. The Gibson-factor is the biggest difference between this series and the Pistons series. As great as Gibson was offensively for the Cavs against the Pistons, the scary truth was that defensively, he was a liability due to his small stature against both Billups and Hamilton. The Pistons basically attacked wherever Gibson was and in Game 5 of the series, when Gibson wasn’t on fire, this became a major problem (resulting in Eric Snow substitutions before Gibson even fouled out). Against the Spurs, I don’t see Gibson as being a defensive liability because Tony Parker and Gibson are similar in size and speed, meaning that Gibson can play even more minutes while producing offensively, and hopefully, not being taken advantage of defensively.
Prediction: Spurs in 6.